Fluorescent kits designed for use with ScreenChip System for
automatic screening and phenotyping

June 06, 2017 10:07 AM Eastern Daylight Time

EUGENE, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NemaMetrix, a company developing nematode-based drug development and
screening technologies, today announced the launch of its first series
of RediStain™ fluorescent kits for improved visualization of C.
elegans’ structure and function in phenotyping studies. These kits
expand the toolkit of C. elegans research to include the ability
to perform structural and functional assays that are standard in cell
biology.

Used with the company’s ScreenChip System, the new staining kits provide
a more efficient way to study nematode phenotypes and their
directly-related underlying genotypes, which would not be possible with
non-fluorescent techniques.

NemaMetrix has developed the ScreenChip System, a first-in-class
automatic screening and phenotyping platform utilizing C. elegans as
the model organism, which acquires and displays neuromuscular data in
real time. The technology allows researchers to rapidly generate and
collect precise whole-animal data via quick and reliable assessment
of neuronal and physiological responses to genetic mutations, drug
effects and other environmental changes. The platform provides an
alternative to enable researchers to better understand human diseases
and explore potential treatments for high-impact disorders. The
ScreenChip System is currently being used in aging, neurodegenerative,
and cardiac diseases studies, as well as in drug development and
developmental biology.

C. elegans is one of the world’s most well understood model
organisms; the nematode worm has phenotypes that can be directly related
to human genes, with homologues identified for up to 80% of human genes,
and a lifespan of just 14 days. This makes it a powerful experimental
model for investigating human disease, allowing researchers to explore
and discover new phenotypes that are difficult and expensive to assess
using traditional models and methods.

Matt Beaudet, CEO of NemaMetrix commented: “C. elegans is
an inexpensive, live-animal model which has the potential to
revolutionize the drug development process. The introduction of
fluorescent staining kits to our ScreenChip System will make previously
invisible phenotypes easy to visualize, allowing scientists to generate
more and better quality data on neuronal and physiological responses to
a wide range of genetic and environmental changes.”